The Borough of Greencastle is applying to the Blighted Property Review Committee of the Franklin County Planning Commission to have the property at 112 S. Carlisle St. condemned as blight under the committee’s guidelines.

“This is the poster child for blighted properties if there ever was one,” said Ken Womack, borough manager.

The Blighted Property Review Committee was established by Franklin County Commissioners in September to provide municipalities with a means to deal with abandoned properties in disrepair.

The committee refers properties it deems “blight” to the Franklin County Redevelopment Authority, which will determine whether the property will be sold, managed or disposed of.

Chain of events

In its application, the borough describes the house as an “immediate hazard to the general health, safety and welfare of the community.”

The application, which includes 12 photos, also states the property is “unfit for human occupancy, unsanitary, vermin-infested, in disrepair, contains filth and contamination, lacks ventilation, illumination, sanitary or heating facilities as required by the Borough.”

If the property is deemed blighted, the committee will send a certified letter to property owner Brian E. Myers of Greencastle with a “time frame for action,” according to Womack.

If a second notice is sent to the owner and with no response, the committee will then refer the property to the redevelopment authority.

The time frame for resolution of the problem is unknown since this is the first time Franklin County has had a blighted property review committee, said Womack. But, he said, “they generally tend to move pretty quickly on these kinds of things.”

The Borough of Greencastle has its own hopes for the property.

“We’re hoping (the owner) will fix it or sell it to someone who will,” Womack said.

Multiple tries

The borough council declared the property a public nuisance for the second time on Nov. 5, 2012.

The first declaration was on June 1, 2009. At that time, council authorized a commercial biohazards company to come in and clean up the location. In October 2009, the borough filed a lien of $11,278.26 on the property in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

According to the borough’s application, Myers arranged a payment schedule with the borough in May 2010 and made a total of $3,000 in payments until April 2011.

Since then, the borough has not received any money and has been unable to contact Myers, according to the application.

After council again declared the property a public nuisance, the Commonwealth Code Inspection Service issued a Notice of Unsafe Structure for the property, rendering it unfit for human inhabitancy.